


Phoenix Rising

by Tsukiakari1203



Series: Phoenix Burning Bright [1]
Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batwoman (Comic), Birds of Prey (Comic), New Teen Titans, Nightwing (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, No Beta, Spoiler Character in Chapter 4, i was very hungry when i wrote chapter 2, we die like kathy in canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:46:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29418132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsukiakari1203/pseuds/Tsukiakari1203
Summary: In which Betty Kane takes a different path in life
Relationships: Bette Kane & Alfred Pennyworth, Bette Kane & Bruce Wayne, Bette Kane & Kathy Kane, Bette Kane & Nathan Kane, Cassandra Cain & Bette Kane, Helena Bertinelli & Dick Grayson (implied), Helena Bertinelli/Bette Kane, Kathy Kane/Nathan Kane, Stephanie Brown & Bette Kane
Series: Phoenix Burning Bright [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2161095
Kudos: 6





	1. Origins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flamebirds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flamebirds/gifts).



> thank you to StephCassShipper for inspiring this work and to flamebirds whose tumblr posts also helped inspire it

Mary Elizabeth Kane is five and a half years old when her parents die, it was an ordinary car crash the police says yet Mary Elizabeth does not believe them. Her uncle Nathan and his wife, Katherine pick her up from the station, uncle Nathan says he is from Gotham, Mary Elizabeth has never heard of it, she only knows Malibu. Mary Elizabeth has never met them before but Nathan is kind and Katherine hugs her and tells her to call her “Kathy”. Kathy asks her if she has a nickname because Mary Elizabeth is a mouthful. Mary Elizabeth says “no”. Kathy laughs and calls her “Betty”. Mary Elizabeth likes that, she wants to be called Betty. 

Betty goes home with them to Gotham and she feels loved. She loves Gotham’s spooky architecture and the city makes her feel welcome. Kathy dotes on her like Betty’s classmates’ mothers dote on them. Betty decides that Kathy is her mother now. Nathan remains distant but Betty knows he cares, he buys her presents for Hanukkah that she enjoys, she has never had that before. Her parents usually bought her clothes or books. Nathan buys her sparkly dresses and a stuffed phoenix toy that she names Fyra. 

Betty’s happiness is darkened by Nathan’s sudden heart attack. Kathy soothes her and washes her tears away. Betty does not like Gotham anymore. It has taken her uncle from her. Kathy, as if sensing her hatred, takes her away from Gotham soon after. They are now in England and Betty is six years old. Betty hears Kathy speaking a different language once and asks her about it. Kathy explains that she is from a different place called Germany and that is her natural language. Betty finds the new language beautiful and wants to learn it. The first mother’s day she spends with Kathy after moving to England, Betty calls her “mutter” for the first time and Kathy cries calling her “mein schlaues mädchen”. By the time she is eleven, she will be fluent in it.


	2. Firebird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty's hands get bloody

When Betty is twelve years old, Kathy sends her to St. Hadrian’s. Betty is unsure to be so far away from home but she adjusts quickly. She makes a friend at St. Hadrian’s, a quiet withdrawn girl named Helena who bonds with Betty over shared trauma. Betty and Helena notice that something is off with the school after hearing a gunshot in the middle of the night. During the next few weeks, they sleuth around at night for clues and find a secret door behind a painting of a Russian firebird. The door leads underground to a room full of computers and weapons. Helena is drawn to a crossbow on the wall and picks it up. Betty watches apprehensively as her friend inspects the weapon. Then the door opens and Kathy steps into the room. She immediately spots the girls and heralds them out of the room and into the Headmistress’ office. Betty and Helena spend the rest of the night learning about Spyral. 

Kathy tells her daughter that she is the head of Spyral and Agent 0 and that she wants Betty to follow in her footsteps and would like to recruit Helena as well. The girls say yes for different reasons. Betty agrees because Kathy is her mother and does not want to disappoint her. Helena acquiesces because she wants revenge on her parents’ killer. The next few years are filled with weapons training and learning how to be a spy. Betty is sixteen when she kills for the first time, she forgets the name of the man but she never forgets that night. It was night she asked Helena out and Helena responded by kissing her. 

Betty and Helena are eighteen when they join Spyral fully, they have graduated St. Hadrian’s with top marks and Kathy gives them the designations Agent 61 and Agent 89 respectively. They quickly rise through Spyral’s ranks becoming a terrifying duo. Helena earns the nickname “the Huntress” for her tenacity and perseverance in hunting her prey with her trusty crossbow. Betty earns no nickname because she never finds a weapon she loves. She is most adept at throwing knives but she is ambivalent to them.

Betty is twenty-five and her hands are dripping in blood when she returns to Gotham for the first time in over a decade. She is reluctant but she will do what Kathy told her to do. She is there to hunt down Dick Grayson. The man who infiltrated Spyral and betrayed her partner's trust. Betty hates him for it. She is all too eager to kill him. She trails him for weeks and finally decides to take her shot. She fires and Dick dodges. She is furious and then Batman appears.


	3. Mysteries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Betty and the Bat are strangers

Betty is unafraid of the Bat. She isn’t afraid of anything now (except for Helena’s cooking) and she stands her ground, refusing to flee, daring him to attack her. He does and Betty is nimble and puts up a good fight but she is soon knocked unconscious. 

She wakes up in a cave with bats flying on the ceiling and a massive computer screen on the wall. Betty knows where she is, she is in Batman’s Batcave. He approaches her and Betty decides to feign unconsciousness. She lets him take a blood sample, she has confidence that he won’t be able to identify her. Why would he? Little Mary Elizabeth Kane disappeared over a decade ago, lost in a paper trail leading to an empty grave in Germany. 

Betty is plotting her escape when Batman tells her to stop pretending. She jolts upright and hits her head on a stalactite. Her head hurts but she ignores it and decides to confront the Big Bad Bat. He questions her, why is she a DNA match for Bruce Wayne? Betty frowns because she does not know why, it has been twenty years since she has heard the name in correlation to herself and her memories of childhood, of before Kathy, are faded and dim. She can barely recall her parents and Uncle Nathan’s faces now. 

Batman leaves her alone and Betty tries to recall her childhood, the memories are just out of reach and it annoys her that she cannot put her finger on it. She faintly remembers toddling after a teenage boy and girl but she does not recollect their names. She falls asleep trying to conjure up hazy memories from long ago.


	4. Trapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Betty gets interrogated

Betty wakes up as Batman blindfolds her, loads her onto a cot and brings her upstairs. Betty tries to sense her surroundings but no luck. The blindfold is removed and she realizes that she is in a bedroom. A well furnished one too. It reminded Betty of her parents home. She notices a painting on the wall. It is of a man and woman with a baby girl. She tries to read the inscription on the frame but it is too far away. Batman makes a noise and Betty remembers that she still needs to figure out what is going on. 

To her surprise, Batman removes her cowl and Betty blinks. Bruce Wayne is Batman? She doesn’t get to ponder that revelation for long before he approaches her and asks “What is your name?”

Betty thinks quickly and pulls up an old alias “My name is Eva Harel.”

The man- no, Bruce she corrects herself- replies “What was your father’s name?”

Betty has no idea why he is asking this, shouldn’t he be asking why she tried to kill his son but she responds anyway “My father’s name was Theodore Harel, why?”

Bruce looks at her and Betty thinks he can see right through her but he just grunts and leaves. Betty is momentarily confused before she realizes that she can explore the new surroundings. She first moves to look at the painting. The inscription says “Roderick and Betsy with baby Martha”. The name Betsy stirs a memory and Betty remembers an old woman looking at a toddler Betty and nodding thoughtfully. Her inspection is interrupted by a knock on the door.


	5. Lying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bette meets some people

A blonde girl who seems to be about seventeen pokes her head in and asks Betty if she wants to come to breakfast. Betty is confused, this is not how you treat an enemy agent in your home but before Betty can reply, an elderly man appears behind the girl and shoos her away. 

“I apologize for the intrusion of Miss Stephanie, I am here to bring you breakfast, do you have any dietary restrictions I should know about?”

Betty hesitates at first before responding “I’m Jewish, I keep kosher.”

The man smiles “Ah! Well I will have no trouble with that Miss Eva. You may call me Alfred, I am the butler. I will bring you breakfast shortly.” 

“Before you go, can I ask why I am upstairs in a fancy bedroom instead of being in a cell?”

Alfred sighed “I see Master Bruce explained nothing. Very well, I shall do so for him. Miss Eva you are here because Master Bruce believes you are related. He is looking into it as we speak.”

Betty watched him go and pondered the new information. She decided to ask Alfred if she was allowed to visit the library when he came back. She didn’t have to wait long for Alfred to return with a tray of food. “Miss Eva, I have brought you a feta cheese omelette and some multigrain toast, I hope you enjoy it.”

“Alfred, am I allowed to leave this room? I would like to explore where I will be staying for the foreseeable future. May I also have some paper and a pen?”

“You are allowed to leave your room, I would advise to avoid the gym though. Master Dick is in there and I think it would be for the best if you avoided him. And yes, I shall fetch you some writing materials.”

Betty hesitated and then “One last thing, who is in that painting?”

Alfred seemed saddened by the question, Betty noted. “That was Miss Martha and her parents Roderick and Betsy Kane, why do you ask?”

Betty was stunned but did not show it, instead opting to say “Just curious, thank you Alfred!”

So Bruce Wayne was related somehow to a Kane. Betty needed to visit the library soon. Maybe she could find a genealogical book. That would be helpful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to Miles who helped me with what Bette could eat for breakfast, it was a lifesaver


	6. The Black Bat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Betty meets someone new

Betty flipped through a book titled “History of the Waynes, Gotham’s First Family” until she found the page she was looking for. A page detailing a family tree. She saw that Thomas Wayne had married Martha Kane and had Bruce Wayne but found limited info on Martha’s own family. She returned the book and before she could pick out a new one she was interrupted by a slip of a girl approaching her. The girl had raven black hair and brown eyes that seemed like she was analyzing Betty. 

She spoke “Alfred sent me to bring you to dinner.”

Betty noticed the time, it was nearly six thirty in the evening during the summer yet Gotham was already dark. “I will be right there, what’s your name?”.

The girl stayed silent and started walking towards the door. Betty followed realizing she wasn’t going to get an answer. They walked through a stately hallway with many portraits and Betty memorized the names as they walked past; Solomon Wayne, Joshua Wayne, Catherine Van Derm, Agnes Wayne, and Rochelle Wayne were all filed away to be looked up later. 

They entered a bustling kitchen where Betty saw Alfred wrangling two boys; a short black haired boy who was fending off a young brown skinned child who was threatening bodily harm. Betty couldn’t help but chuck, drawing attention to their entrance. Alfred quickly dealt with the boys and ordered them out to the dining room while he acknowledged the women’s presence.

“Miss Cassandra, I see you’ve returned with Miss Eva. Miss Eva you will be sitting next to Miss Stephanie and Miss Harper. Miss Cassandra, you’ll be sitting next to Master Bruce and Master Tim. Now go sit down, I will serve shortly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love Cass Cain but she was hard to write, hope I did her justice

**Author's Note:**

> full disclosure this was an unexpected AU and I wrote out the concept in one sitting


End file.
